Salaries/Compensation of Crew??? Anybody have an idea? Wonder Crew seems SO Content!

[MrPurplePaul]

Has any one found that the CM on DCL are more or less aggresive about requesting a "excellent" rating on the comment cards than crew members from other cruise lines? Or are all cruise lines the same in this aspect?

On past (non DCL) cruises my DW and I have noticed that they are very aggresive and want you put down nothing but "excellent" on the cards .. one even told us that anything less than that was a failure and could get them fired. . .

I'm a generous tipper (by my standards) but I'm also an honest evaluator. . .if you want "excellent" then you better be "excellent". . .

 

[awatt]

Have heard that the Servers / Asst. Servers and Room Stewards make about $50 per MONTH - that should keep them happy

Maybe we're better "tippers" on DCL than on the other cruise lines:

This is purely anecdotal based on my limited experienc, so don't flame me ,but.....on the last night of our DCL cruse was the worst case of teh "no-tip flu" I have ever seen. Half the dining room was empty. Surely not all these folks were at palo. Have not seen this anywhere else.

 

[jrabbit]

Interesting web site! Hmmm....wondering if DCL hires any of us middle-aged and up folks?

They might - but how many of us could really work that hard for that long and be "on top of their game" for that long with that little sleep??

 

[TSirgey]

Has any one found that the CM on DCL are more or less aggresive about requesting a "excellent" rating on the comment cards than crew members from other cruise lines? Or are all cruise lines the same in this aspect?

I agree they were honest about their expectations. However, in our situation, they were excellent!!

Working in a customer service industry, I believe in evaluations to be a great tool. I think it is important that they are held to a standard. The comment about how it could make or break a CM's job it taking it a bit far (but probably true). There are better ways to approach this.

 

[tammymacb]

On taxes. I was on a delayed ship in January. To keep the crowd from revolting the crew did a Q&A with the guests. Many of the crew don't pay any income taxes. It depends on where they are from.

 

[jrabbit]

So if we do the math...

Server - Tipping guideline $25.75 per person 7 day cruise

If the server could has 5 tables of 4 people per dining seating... that's ~$1K week.

Seting up the "math" so that whoever is really interested can figure it out for themselves.

about 2,400 guests sail each week on each ship. Remember NOT everyone Tips, and some people are very generous!!
there are 3 main restaurants (Animators, Parrot Cay, Lumiers/Tritons)
there are 20 serving stations per restaurant
there are 1 server and 1 assistant server per serving station
I'm not sure how many Head Servers there are per restaurant but it's either 1, 2, 3 or 4.
Recommended gratuities per week (same on Magic and Wonder) per guest are: Server: 25.75, Asst. Server: 18.75, Head Server: 6.50

There are 875 rooms on the ships
Each room steward takes care of about 10 rooms each (I think)
standard gratuity for a room steward per guest per week is: 25.25

 

[TSirgey]

Great math! Thanks!

 

[Ruth B]

am really surprised that 20% of people don't tip??!

 

[LoveThatMouse!]

Thank you to everyone who is posting on this thread!​

Your comments have caused me to think of a few other experiences we've had... When we sailed on RCCL, our server told us that he worked strictly on tips and that number of 'excellent' ratings he received at the end of one cruise would determine the number of tables he would serve on the next sailing.

More excellent ratings=more tables=more tips....hence the need to 'beg' for the excellent rating.​

On our recent DCL cruise, I spoke to the Food and Beverage Mgr. about how pleased we were with our server....later that evening I found out from our server that he had received a 'reward/bonus card" for my compliment....it is my understanding that they can use accumulated cards for Palo dinners, extra time off, etc.

Another night, when I was in the Oceaneer's Lab, I saw the officer in charge of that area and complimented her on her staff...specifically how my 'shy' child felt quickly at ease with the counselors. The counselors later told me that my speaking to the Officer was HUGE for them. On the final night, my daughter took a box of chocolates and a thank you note to the counselors and the CM said that they would be saving it for the next morning's meeting, to show their supervisor.

We should not underestimate what our comments mean to the cast members.
Even our kind words to their supervisors are giant for them!

 

[awatt]

Seting up the "math" so that whoever is really interested can figure it out for themselves.

about 2,400 guests sail each week on each ship. Remember NOT everyone Tips, and some people are very generous!!
there are 3 main restaurants (Animators, Parrot Cay, Lumiers/Tritons)
there are 20 serving stations per restaurant
there are 1 server and 1 assistant server per serving station
I'm not sure how many Head Servers there are per restaurant but it's either 1, 2, 3 or 4.
Recommended gratuities per week (same on Magic and Wonder) per guest are: Server: 25.75, Asst. Server: 18.75, Head Server: 6.50

There are 875 rooms on the ships
Each room steward takes care of about 10 rooms each (I think)
standard gratuity for a room steward per guest per week is: 25.25

That estimated 1K/week your cabin steward or waiter recieves is divided between hima and a number of behind-the-scenes staff, so he's not getting 1K/week. For example the cabin steward splits some of his pay with laundry staff, and so on.

They really don't make that much. This is an article from a captain's wife and former crew member on the subject:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=261

 

[scrapperjill]

I just wanted to add a small comment on the 'empty' dinning rooms on the last night. I don't know about everyone else...but somehow I've managed to miss going to the dinning room for dinner on the last night on both of our cruises so far. Not trying to avoid "tip" time...because there are certinaly lots of other times tips can be handed over. But simply because things happen. On our first cruise it was a total new cruiser mistake....WE didn't realize how much time we'd need to pack our things up and how early in the evening they needed to be placed out side our stateroom. So we ended up packing though our dinner time..thinking we could order room service when we were hunger (BIG mistake....we didn't realize they didn't do room service on the last night....so we ended up going to bed hungry ). The following year...we scheduled dinner at Palo for the last night. Again not trying to avoid "tip time"...but because it fit in our schedule. Anyhow...I know it's totally off topic...BUT I thought I'd add in that just because people don't show up to dinner on the last evening isn't necessarly because there trying to skip out.

 

[LoveThatMouse!]

This is an article from a captain's wife and former crew member on the subject:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=261

Thanks awatt for including the link to this article....
It was very interesting!!!

As for gifts that were mentioned, a member of the entertainment staff on DCL told me that they could not receive cash, but COULD receive gifts. She also said, that IF a gift is valued at more than $50, it must be turned over to their supervisor. The gift is then sold or auctioned and the proceeds are used for a Group party/dinner for the entire Entertainment staff. hmmm.....(She had once been given a very expensive bracelet and had to turn it over ).

Does anyone have additional thoughts on this?

 

[disnutt]

I'm a generous tipper (by my standards) but I'm also an honest evaluator. . .if you want "excellent" then you better be "excellent". . .

Do the cards have some sort of explanation of the ratings or is it purely subjective? It might help ensure that ratings are more objective and befitting the service.